Flying Is Bad Enough, But Having To Deal With This On A Plane Is Horrifying

In July 2015, 57-year-old Chris Karadimas groped a woman seated next to him on a Delta Airlines flight from Athens, Greece, to New York City.

He is being charged with abusive sexual contact and simple assault for touching the woman’s face and breasts, but he claims that his sleep apnea is to blame. He supposedly entered a “confused state of partial wakening” after taking Tylenol PM before the flight and drinking two glasses of Scotch, after which he says he fell asleep. His trial is set to begin on January 17, but he’s asking the judge to let a sleep expert testify on his behalf to get him off the hook.

Unfortunately, this isn’t the only (and definitely not the last) disturbing incident of sexual assault to happen during a flight.

In June 2016, 13-year-old Mackenzie Miller was forced to endure sexual assault at the hands of the man seated next to her. Despite her being a part of the American Airlines’ unaccompanied minor program, It took over 30 minutes for flight attendants to notice.

That same month, 23-year-old Jesse Salas was arrested for forcibly kissing the 16-year-old girl next to him and repeatedly grabbing her thighs while she was sleeping on an Alaska Airlines flight from Portland, Oregon, to Anchorage, Alaska.

Yet another man took advantage of a sleeping woman by inappropriately touching her on an overnight Virgin America flight from Los Angeles to Newark, New Jersey, in July 2016. He reportedly offered to buy her drinks to make up for it.